Road marker



p 1929- ca. N. HERMAN ET AL 1,728,275

ROAD MARKER Filed April 25, 1927 im niar Patented Sept. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES GILMORE N. HERMAN AND ALBERT W. T.

PATENT OFFICE MOHR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO ALLOY STEEL CORPORATION, OF. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS Application filed April 25,

Our invention has to do with the marking of streets and other roadways, for the prevention of accidents by regulating traflic at intersecting points, as direction signals, and '5 for other purposes. The large volume of automotive vehicle trafiic over streets and roadways has made necessary the provision of means for guiding traffic at street corners and road intersections, and an expedient quite generally adopted for that purpose is to paint anarrow white stripe across the right hand half of the street or road at the near side of an intersecting street or road crossing. This practice is, however, objectionable because the paint very quickly wears off, making it necessary to repaint the stripe at frequent intervals, at large expense for labor and material. Beside, on roadways where there is more or less dust the stripe is apt to be covered and hidden by the dust so that it cannot be observed by an approaching driver in time for him to stop or slow down his vehicle before reaching the crossing. Recognizing these disadvantages of the use of a painted stripe it has been proposed to substitute for it metal markers adapted to be embedded in the roadway. These markers are of various designs and have been made of materials of difl'erent kinds, but so far as we are aware none of them has proven entirely satisfactory, for various reasons, among-which may be mentioned the high cost of manufacture; lack of proper wearing qualities, with consequent large expense of maintenance, and a tendency to rust, thereby reducing, if not entirely destroying, the visibility of the marker except on near approach to it. The object of our invention is to avoid these and other objections to existing road markers, which object We accomplish as illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described. What we regard as new is set forth in the claim. Y

In the accompanying drawings,-

Figs. 1 and 2 are perspective views, from '4 different angles, of one of the sections of which our improved marker is generally composed; Fig; 3 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section of our improved marker as installed in a street or roadway;

tance.

ROAD MARKER 1927. Serial No. 186,200.

marker designed for use as a sign to indicate a route, or for other purposes.

It is of the utmost importance that a road marker such as has been referred to be made of a material that possesses great lasting qualities, not only as to its resistance to abrasion, but also as to its liability to fracture under the stresses to which it is subjected by trafiic flowing over it, temperature changes, &c. also that the material be of such character that it will resist corrosion and abrasion and will maintain a bright polished surface without attention, so that it will be readily visible from a considerable distance, so as to give the drivers of approaching vehicles ample warning that they are approach ing a street or road intersection. It is also important that the material be of such character that the marker may be manufactured without -difiiculty and at a cost that will notbe prohibitive.

We have discovered that a material that satisfies the requirements is an alloy steel containing from six to twenty-five per cent chromium, from one-half per cent to twenty per cent nickel, and not over one per cent carbon. Such material is capable of taking a high polish, and does not abrade, corrode or rust under the action of the elements, or other influences to which it is likely to be subjected when used as a road marker; consequently it always'remains bright, and because of its refiection of light is visible from a great dis- Also, dust does not adhere to it, and, therefore, it is not likely to be hidden by the accumulation of dust upon it, since it would be swept clean by any breeze strong enough to raisedust.

In applying this material to the construc "tion of a marker it is cast or rolled in sections or strips which, in the best embodiment of our invention, have the shape shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These strips, which in their completed form are of comparatively short length,

say about thirty inches long, are T-shaped in cross-section and comprise a substantially flat top surface 7 which is polished, and, when the marker is in place, lies flush with the top surface of the roadway, as shown in Fig. 3, in which 8 indicates the road surface, of asphalt, concrete .or other suitable mate rial, and 9 the foundation. Projecting from the under surface of the strip, and preIerably midway between its side margins, is an anchoring flange 10 which is integral with the top surface of the strip and isadapted to be embedded in the foundation of the roadway, where it is firmly anchored in place. The flange 10 may if desired be of uniform length, but preferably it is cut away to provide a number of anchoring members or feet 11 spaced at. intervals along the length of the strip, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These anchoring members are preferably slightly tapered toward their outer margins, as shown in the drawings, and are provided with transverse perforations 12 for the reception of anchor bars 13 which extend through them, as

' shown in Fig. 3.- These anchor bars are also embedded in the foundation of the roadway. and serve to firmly anchor the marker in place. The bars 13 are designed to fit loose- 1y enough in the perforations 12 so that they can readily be inserted at the time the marker is being installed. In installing the marker asuflicient number of sections or strips are employed to give the desiredlength, usually half the width of the roadway, the sections being laid end to end and each separately anchored in place, thereby minimizing the danger of its becoming loosened, and facilitating embedded in the ground, do not corrode, and,

road repair work, since in many cases it will suffice to remove a single section rather than the entire marker, as where only a small part of the road must be torn up for repair, or for underground construction work. In Fig.4 we have shown each marker as a whole made up of five sections, but their number may, of course, be varied as circumstances dictate.

In Fig. 5 we have shown our invention as embodied in a curved arrow 14 used as a direction sign, and in Fig. 6 we have shown it as embodied in a letter 15 used as a route in dicator, or for. other purposes. In either case the strip or section will be embedded in the roadway and anchored in the same way as that above described.

By making our improved marker of the material and in the form described, not only the exposed upper surface, but also the parts therefore, the marker does not deteriorate even with long continued use. In fact, it will outlast the roadway in which it is placed, and as Its exposed surface retains its polish it requires no attention to keepit in effective con-' dition. Our invention, however, in its broadest aspect includes. the provision of integral.

anchoring means for the exposed top surface of the marker, such as the flange 10, of such character as to give the marker the necessary rigidity, whether the anchoring portion be made of the same material as the top surface or not. In some instances it may be desired to use a different material for the anchoring means and to unite it with the top surface by welding to form an integral structure, but the marker may be more easily manufactured and possesses greater lasting qualities if made of the same material throughout, and, therefore,- that construction is preferable. By making the marker as a whole in sections as described, expansion and contraction may be compensated for, so that there is no danger that the setting of the marker with reference to the road surface will be disturbed under extremes of heat and cold.

lVhat we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A marker of the character described com- A .risin an integral metal stri havin a 01- b A h 

